The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company (reporting markCNW) was a Class I railroad in the MidwestUnited States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over 12,000 miles (19,000 km) of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s. Until 1972, when the company was sold to its employees, it was named the Chicago and North Western Railway. The C&NW became one of the longest railroads in the US as a result of mergers with other railroads, such as the Chicago Great Western Railway, Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway and others. By 1995, track sales and abandonment had reduced the total mileage back to about 5,000. The majority of the abandoned and sold lines were lightly trafficked branches in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Large line sales, such as those that resulted in the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad further helped reduce the railroad to a mainline core with several regional feeders and branches.[1] The company was purchased by Union Pacific Railroad in April 1995 and ceased to exist.

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The old Chicago and North Western Terminal ca. 1912, soon after its completion

The Chicago and North Western Railway was chartered on June 7, 1859. It had purchased the assets of the bankrupt Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad five days earlier. On February 15, 1865, it officially merged with the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, which had been chartered on January 16, 1836. Since the Galena & Chicago Union started operating in December 1848, and the Fond du Lac railroad started in March, 1855, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad is considered to be the origin of the North Western railroad system. The Winona and St. Peter Railroad was added to the network in 1867.

On July 1, 1968 the 1,500 mi (2,400 km) Chicago Great Western Railway was merged into the North Western. This railroad went from Chicago to Oelwein, Iowa. From there lines went to the Twin Cities, Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri. A connection from Hayfield, Minnesota, to Clarion, Iowa, provided a Twin Cities to Omaha main line. The Chicago Great Western duplicated the North Western's routes from Chicago to the Twin Cities and Omaha, but went the long way. This merger provided access to Kansas City and further eliminated competition. After abandoning a plan to merge with the Milwaukee Road in 1970, Benjamin W. Heineman, who had headed the CNW and parent Northwest Industries since 1956, arranged the sale of the railroad to its employees in 1972. The words "Employee Owned" were part of the company logo in the ensuing period.

After the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (Rock Island) stopped operating on March 31, 1980, the North Western won a bidding war with the Soo Line Railroad for purchase of the roughly 600-mile (970 km) "Spine Line" from the Twin Cities to Kansas City, Missouri, via Des Moines, Iowa. The North Western's bid of $93 million was approved on June 20, 1983, by the ICC. The line was well-engineered, but because of deferred maintenance on the part of the bankrupt Rock Island, a major rehabilitation was undertaken in 1984. The North Western then began to abandon the Oelwein to Kansas City section of its former Chicago Great Western trackage, which duplicated Spine Line service.

In April, 1995, the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad.

Chicago and North Western locomotives continued to operate in their own paint schemes for several years after the merger. As of 2011, two locomotives remain on the UP with CNW logos and reporting marks, GE Dash 9-44CW locomotives #8646 and #8701. Union Pacific has decided to leave these 2 locomotives in their current condition until either of them suffers a serious mechanical problem, in which they will be overhauled and repainted at Jenks Shop in North Little Rock or retired, depending on how bad the failure is. In addition to this, many former C&NW units have received "patches" with a new road number and reporting mark to match their new owner's roster. Approximately 40 "patched" units remain on the Union Pacific and several others work under different owners. However, it is still possible to find untouched C&NW units in service. For instance CNW 1518, CNW 411, CNW 414 (METX 308), CNW 4160, and CNW 6847 are preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum, CNW 4153 now works at a grain elevator in Fremont, Nebraska, and several other GP7s, GP9s, and a few other C&NW locomotives are owned by various regionals, shortlines, or industries.

Union Pacific continues to follow its new tradition of releasing "Heritage" units to represent the paint schemes of companies absorbed by UP. After completion of painting at the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad's Horicon, Wisconsin shop, UP 1995, an EMD SD70ACe locomotive painted in a "Heritage" C&NW paint scheme, was unveiled on July 15, 2006, at North Western Station in Chicago, Illinois. North Western Station now serves as UP's Metra terminus (although the station is officially designated the "Ogilvie Transportation Center", many locals still refer to the station as the "North Western Station", or as the "CNW Station"). The unit was then placed in dedicated service on former C&NW trackage, sometimes paired with the C&NW 8646 and 8701.

The CNW's most famous train, the Twin Cities 400 from Chicago to Minneapolis/St. Paul, was introduced in 1935 to compete with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy's Zephyrs and the Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas. This train was named because it traveled the 400 mi (640 km) between the cities in 400 minutes. CNW was the first system to start a high-speed Chicago-Twin Cities schedule because it used refurbished instead of new equipment, but in 1939, modernized the 400 with new E3A diesel locomotive pairs and streamlined cars. Other named trains the CNW operated included the Ashland Limited, Duluth-Superior Limited, and the North Western Limited[2]

CNW eventually renamed the first 400 to the Twin Cities 400 as the CNW labeled almost all of its passenger trains with variations of the 400 moniker, including the Flambeau 400, Rochester 400, Valley "400", Shoreland "400", Dakota 400 and the Kate Shelley 400.[3] CNW ceased running the Twin Cities 400 in 1963, and all intercity passenger service on CNW ended with the formation of Amtrak in 1971.

Amtrak bought a dozen of C&NW's bilevel railcars and were repainted into Phase III paint. They are not in use today.

A North Western cab car leads a commuter train in 1968. Most commuter rail lines in Chicago, including today's Metra, used cars of this design.

Chicago and North Western also operated commuter train service in the Chicago area, where they developed what was perhaps the first cab car. A modified gallery car was built in 1960 with locomotive controls to allow push-pull operation. Today, it is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum.[4] The C&NW also pioneered the concept of Head End Power (HEP), generating 480V electricity from the locomotive to power the air conditioning, lighting, and heating on the new bi-level cars. This eventually became the standard for all railroads in the United States.

Three commuter lines radiated from North Western station, terminating in Geneva, IL; Harvard, IL; and Kenosha, WI. All three are still operated by Metra. At Crystal Lake Junction, some trains branched off to Williams Bay and Lake Geneva, WI. The West Line also had branches to Aurora, Freeport, and Crystal Lake. A fourth commuter line operated on the KD Line between Kenosha and Harvard until 1939.

In 1974, responsibility for the commuter lines and equipment ownership was transferred to the newly formed Regional Transportation Authority, later branded in 1983 as Metra. A "purchase of service" contract was signed with the C&NW, by which the railroad would be paid to maintain the line and operate trains on behalf of the RTA. This arrangement continues with the Union Pacific today.

All three C&NW commuter lines live on in the Metra system, with the Geneva line having been extended to Elburn, IL, however service on the branch to Williams Bay was gradually cut back over the years (also resulting in changes to the name of the branch). In 1965, service was abandoned between Williams Bay and Lake Geneva. In 1975, service ended between Lake Geneva and Richmond. In 1981, service between McHenry and Richmond ended. Rails and ties north of the Cargill plant in Ringwood were removed during the 1980s, and the right of way converted to a trail.

The Wood Street "potato yard" in 1959 with boxcars filled with potatoes.

The CNW was known for running "left-hand main" on double track mainlines. In other words, traffic was routed by default to the track on the left rather than the track on the right. In the United States, most railroads followed the "right-hand main" operating practice, while "left-hand main" running was more common in countries where British companies built the railroads. According to a display in the Lake Forest station, the reason for this was a combination of chance and inertia. When originally built as single-line trackage, the C&NW arbitrarily placed its stations on the left-hand side of the tracks (when headed inbound toward Chicago). Later, when a second track was added, it was placed on the side away from the stations so as not to force them to relocate. Since most passengers waiting at the stations were headed toward Chicago, the inbound track remained the one closest to the station platforms. The expense of reconfiguring signals and switches has prevented a conversion to right-hand operation ever since.

The railroad operated what was once the largest "potato yard" or potato market, at its Chicago Wood Street yards. Potatoes came to the yard from every point in the United States to be bought or traded by produce dealers and brokers. While the facility came to be known as the "potato yard", it was also a site where other vegetables could be bought, sold or traded.[5][6]

A set of WRRS Center Harp shortie wigwag signals commonly seen on the C&NW during the 20th Century.

The Chicago and North Western was known for its installation of Western Railroad Supply Company wigwag signals at many of its crossing in the 1920–1940s. Almost every town on their route had at least the main crossing in town protected by them. The most common style were the Center Harp shorties. They were almost iconic to the CNW. Many of them, which were grandfathered in after the Federal Railroad Administration ruled them inadequate protection in 1949, survived until the 1970s and a few remain on lines in Wisconsin that have been sold off to other railroads. Lack of available parts and upgrades to roads have replaced all but a few of them.

The railroad also purchased a great deal of its equipment second-hand. CNW shop forces economized wherever possible, earning the railroad the nickname "Cheap and Nothing Wasted." Sometimes employees referred to the condition of equipment as "Cardboard and No Wheels."

In 1891, the CNW adopted the famous "ball and bar" logo which survived a few modifications throughout its 104-year existence. This included the changing of text: